


The Dryad Village

by Linorien



Category: Arthurian Mythology, Merlin (TV)
Genre: Storyteller format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-12-30 18:53:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18321197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linorien/pseuds/Linorien
Summary: Mythological creatures AU. The story of the haunted forest beside the village.





	The Dryad Village

**Author's Note:**

> Kinda picture a grandmother telling the story to their grandchild.

You’ve lived in this village long enough that you know the truth of the haunted forest. You understand the voices are real, you know why the lumberjacks go further to find wood, and you know that the trees never die. You know the forest belongs to the dryads. 

But what I haven’t told you, my child, is the story of the first dryad. 

He wasn’t always a dryad. He was a young boy, living in this very village, many decades ago. He lived with his mother and practiced his magic. He was lonely, but he was a happy kid. Yes, much like you. 

But as all little boys do, they grew up. A teenager, and then a man. He traveled from home to the big city and found his destiny. He lived there for many years, making new friends and going on daring adventures.

However, Destiny was not kind to him. A great evil swept over the land. Brother fought brother, son killed father, and friends were left alone. The young boy from the village was left alone on the quiet battlefield. 

He got angry. He made bad choices. He had to face the consequences. 

After a long duel, a sorceress trapped him. She defeated him and locked him in a tree. She could do that because of her great magic. The young man from the village had been defeated. 

Yet he was special. He was stronger than he knew. He had more magic than anyone had ever been gifted before. He was still alive. 

It took many years, but soon he learned to free himself from the tree. But even he could not sever his connection to the tree. He couldn’t stray far and he couldn’t stay out of the tree for long. 

Being bound to the tree left him lonely. He missed being with friends. So the next spring, something magical happened. When the oak tree he was tied to pollinated, he pushed some of his magic into the spores. And when those special seeds grew into trees, those trees were special. Each tree contained a dryad, a human tied to a tree that is theirs, yet able to walk free. 

It took a long time, but soon he built a forest, a family. Not all the trees are dryads, sometimes he’s not in his tree when it pollinates, yet every tree is stronger than normal. 

And so we live beside this forest protecting it. Keeping it safe from the greedy world while they protect us from illness and strife. One big family, for one man from this village. 

**Author's Note:**

> The story was also called The OG Dryad


End file.
